Hidden Moments: Clipped
by ErykahMiszti
Summary: Set during 'Paperclip'. What happened between Mulder and Scully leaving the Mining Co. & meeting Skinner.


TITLE: Hidden Moments - Clipped AUTHOR: Erykah Miszti EMAIL: Erykah@hamadryad.com RATING: NC-17 CLASSIFICATION: VR SUMMARY: What might have happened between M&S leaving the Stronghold Mining Co. and meeting Skinner. NOTES: The first story - in writing order - in the Hidden Moments series. Chronologically the second story. This got me nominated for an award, apparently! 

DISCLAIMER - See end of story. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX Hidden Moments: Clipped 

"Mulder I'm down here." Scully called out from somewhere in the darkness. Mulder followed the single shaft of light from her torch, it entangled almost intimately with the light from his own as they drew closer. "You okay Scully?" He demanded as he reached her and caught sight of her face. "I heard gunshots." She exclaimed. "I've been looking for you." He returned breathlessly. "What happened to you?" She asked desperately. "They've got a small army outside. I think they've got us trapped." He told her flatly and she drew him down the corridor. "I think there's a way out down here." She told him as they began moving. 

They ran down the dark corridors, past the first real evidence of the true actions of Bill Mulder and his shadowy associates. The medical records, collected for a purpose unknown as yet. Their torches were the only light and they illuminated only small sections of the file cabinets, as they ran hurriedly past them. The men chasing them were unsubtle as they sought their quarry with an intentioned terminal intensity. Scully led Mulder towards the doorway and they fell out into the cool of the early evening. Without even a backwards glance, they headed away from the building which was supposed to have housed the Stronghold Mining Company. 

****************** 

9:07 PM 

Hours later they were still walking. Scully's feet were killing her and she had stumbled more than a few times. Mulder said nothing as he walked beside her, but Scully noticed that he had shortened his stride to allow her to keep up without difficulty. 

They had ran at first, but it had soon become obvious that they had managed to lose the people chasing them. The men must have confined their search to within the cavernous interior of the mountain vaults, not believing that they would find such a quick way out. Indeed, they wouldn't have if Scully hadn't seen those . . whatever they were. She felt the opposite of Mulder. She *didn't* want to believe that what she had seen were aliens. There had to be another explanation. Still, if it hadn't been for whatever they were, they might well both be dead by now. 

They had kept away from all roads for a while, but now they had come across one and were following it back to civilisation. They found it in the form of Craiger - population approximately 400, if you counted all the animals as well. The motel was not really in the town, but on the outskirts by the road. Luckily for them it was small, quiet, and cheap. They hadn't exactly been planning this little excursion. Checking in their wallets and putting their money together, they managed to come up with enough money for one room, with a little left over for food. They both had their credit cards, but it wouldn't have been safe to use them. It was then that Scully realised exactly what the last few hours had made them. Fugitives. Mulder suggested that she went straight to their room while he tried to find some food for them. Scully was too drained to argue. 

****************** 9:56 PM The Andrews Motel Craiger, Maryland 

The room was small, but clean. The double bed in the centre of the room had a hand-stitched bedspread covered in small coloured flowers and it reminded Scully of the embroidery her grandmother used to do. The thought was a comfortable one after the agony of the last few days. When she was little she had often sat with Missy at their grandma's feet, watching her form the delicate stitches. Tears welled in Scully's eyes as she thought of her sister. Poor Missy, in a hospital bed with a gunshot wound to the skull. As a doctor, Scully knew that her sisters chances of survival were slim to none. She sank onto the edge of the bed and it sagged heavily, causing her to sink towards the middle and she righted herself with difficulty. Forcing the thought of her sister out of her head only allowed other thoughts to creep in. The medical records. Her own file. Samantha's file. What did it all mean? Why was there a recent tissue sample in her file? And in Samantha's? She closed her eyes and tried not to think at all. 

******************** 

10:40 PM 

Mulder knocked on the door of the room. In his hand he carried a paper bag containing a couple of hamburgers and some coffees, the only food he'd had enough money to buy. There was only one eating establishment in the town, a small place called Charlotte's Diner. By some stroke of luck it stayed open late, at least *someone* out there seemed to be on their side. Mulder laughed at himself.  Despite the fact that the diner was practically empty, the service had been slow and Mulder hadn't liked leaving Scully alone for so long. There was no answer from inside the room and Mulder began to worry. He knocked a little harder. "Scully?" He called softly. Still there was no answer. Mulder placed the bag onto the floor and drew his gun from his waistband. He put his hand on the doorknob and turned it. The door popped open. He frowned, why was it unlocked? Flattening himself again the solid wall to the right of the door, he prepared himself, bringing the gun up high. Then he pushed the door open, still using the solid wall as a shield. He turned into the doorway suddenly, with the gun pointed ahead of him, and scanned the room. He froze when he saw her. The gun lowered and a relieved expression spread over his face. Scully was fast asleep on the bed. 

Mulder brought the bag in from outside and locked the door. He lay his gun on the table bedside the bed, and placed the food next to it. Crouching down, Mulder brought himself level with Scully's face. Her eyelids fluttered slightly against her cheeks, but her sleep seemed peaceful. He looked up at the bag of food and debated which was the greater need - he decided to let her sleep. An irrational thought popped into his head and he leaned forward and kissed her temple. "That's a recent tissue sample." Her distressed voice said inside his head and he closed his eyes in pain, as he drew back from her. Her lips curled a little, almost a ghost of a smile, and she soundlessly murmured something, but he didn't see it. He turned away and stood up, anger pervading every fiber of his body. They had taken his sister, killed his father, tried to kill him - and had succeeded - tried to kill Scully, shot her sister and committed a thousand other unknown atrocities. Now they had taken their jobs away from them and denied them more than just the X Files. They were both under suspension from the FBI and, after this, there was no hope of reinstatement. With tonight's activities they had managed to turn themselves into criminals - thereby allowing their enemies to turn them into fugitives. 

Mulder grabbed the bag and sat down in uncomfortable chair near the TV set. He didn't turn it on because he didn't want to disturb Scully. She would need her strength for the weeks, maybe even years, ahead. Paranoia came as naturally to him as getting up in morning, but Scully . . She was the strongest person he'd ever met, but was she strong enough to survive a life like this? She'd learn to be, she could adapt to anything, and he'd be there for her when the times were bad. He knew that it would be hard for her not to see her mother and family again, and especially hard not to be able to visit Melissa in hospital. Mulder took a big bite from the burger, and the thought of Melissa, lying in a hospital bed in a place that should have been Scully's, hit him like an express train. He placed the burger back in the bag - he'd lost his appetite. Scully was supposed to be dead, one way or another, by now. Somehow fate had spared them both, but it had extracted a high price in return. 

Mulder yawned and rested his head back. There was no way he could get comfortable in the chair but he needed at least a few hours sleep. Who knew what the morning would bring? Mulder closed his eyes. 

*********************** 

12:29 AM 

Scully gasped and woke up. She couldn't remember what the nightmare was about, but the thought of it kept making her shiver. Looking about at the unfamiliar room it took her a moment to get her bearings. Then the memories crashed back in. As she slumped back down onto the bed she became aware that she was fully dressed. Why hadn't Mulder woken her, she thought as she stood up, unbuttoning her jacket. Then she saw him, laying, as best as he could, across the chair. Her expression softened as she took in his strong features relaxed in sleep. His mouth was slightly open, which drew her attention to the full curve of his lower lip. After all that he'd been through he needed the kind of sleep that he wouldn't get stuck in an uncomfortable chair. All Scully's mothering instincts came to surface. She lay her jacket on the table and went over to him. "Mulder?" She asked softly as she lay her hand on his shoulder. He was startled awake. "What's wrong?" He demanded, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "Nothing's wrong." She said reassuringly as she looked down at him. He looked back up at her curiously and Scully decided that she quite liked being able to look down at him. "I think you should take the bed Mulder. You need sleep more than I do." He shook his head. "I'm fine here Scully. I was half-awake anyway. I was trying to keep watch just in case they find us." Scully smiled. "You never could lie to me Mulder. Now get into bed, before I have to shoot you again." Mulder gave a mock-salute. "Yes ma'am." He said as he got up from the chair and went to the bed. "How *is* your shoulder?" Scully asked. "Is it giving you any pain?" "Right now Scully, there are other things more painful on my mind." He sat down on the bed and looked at her assessingly. "You know, you look just as tired as I feel." He patted the bed next to him. "This is a big bed." "Mulder. . ." "Look." He began with a smile. "I promise not to jump your bones, if you promise not to jump mine." He stuck his hand out towards her and Scully smiled despite herself. "Deal." She replied and, reaching out, she took his hand. His fingers closed over hers firmly and she watched as his expression turned serious. "You do know how much trouble we're in don't you Scully? I can't see anyway out of this for us." Scully lowered her eyes and tried to take her hand out of his, but he wouldn't let her and her eyes snapped back to his. "There's no going back now." "Mulder, there has to be a way out of this." She insisted. He dropped her hand and turned away. "They wont let us live Scully." He said softly. "We've seen too much." Scully sat down on the bed next to him. "Is this same Mulder who, only today, claimed that he'd come back from the dead?" He turned to face her. They sat on the sagging bed a few feet apart. "Scully I've been doing a lot of thinking tonight and I remembered something that your sister . . that Melissa said to me after you were returned. She chastised me for finding it easier to act rather than tell you what I feel." "Mulder, that . . ." She began. He reached out and covered her hand with his. "I just wanted to tell you that, whatever happens, I'll always be there for you." "Mulder, we *will* get out of this." She said firmly. His eyes burned intently into hers. "We have to find the truth Scully. Something is giving us the chance to do that. Both of us have nearly died in the last week, but we've both survived." "Not without a price." The words were barely a whisper. Their eyes remained locked with a fierce intensity. "I know." He acknowledged softly. "But we *have* survived and we'll continue to do that as long as we stay firm on this." "I do want the truth Mulder, but I'm afraid the price might be more than I can take." She broke the eye contact, and Mulder removed his hand from hers. "I called Skinner." He said. "He's coming tomorrow." Scully looked up. "What do you think he'll be able to do?" "I don't know, but he's got the tape and I *need* that." "Is it really worth it?" She asked softly and he looked at her incredulously. "How can you say that Scully? After all you've seen. Your file in that vault. Your name in those files." He insisted. Scully looked away from him sharply and blinked back tears. "I've forgotten nothing Mulder, but I have a family whom I love and I can't face the thought of not seeing them again." "As opposed to me, who has no family that would really miss me!" He exclaimed bitterly. "That's not what I meant and you know it." She moved closer to him and put her hand on his shoulder. He looked at her intently. "You mean a lot to me Mulder, and I trust you with my life. I don't believe the same things you do, but I've always been on your side. You're *very* important to me. I'll support you in every way that I can, but I . ." Tears glistened in her eyes and Mulder's hazel eyes held an answering sparkle. With a great rush of feeling he wrapped his arms around her. Scully returned the hug just as enthusiastically, she only protested when he drew her down beside him on the bed. They lay side by side and Mulder smiled. "We made a deal didn't we Scully." "Yeah we did." "But that doesn't mean that we can't share a hug does it? I just really need to hold onto you tonight Scully. I need to know that we're together in this." Scully smiled sardonically. "We're definitely together in this Mulder." She replied and moved closer to him. They arranged themselves so that they lay with their arms around each other. Both of them felt the sexual tension, but each resolved themselves to sleep and their need for sleep was so great that they did. 

******************* 

6:15 AM 

Mulder awoke to the pleasant sensation of Scully in his arms. As he moved she woke up too. "Morning." He said softly. "Good morning." She replied with a smile. "Is it time to get up?" He nodded. "I told Skinner that we'd meet him around 7 in the diner down the street. I thought we could use some breakfast first. We've got just about enough money left for something filling." He smiled. "Then we'd better get up." Scully replied, but she didn't want to get up and face what today might bring. It could only be bad for them. 

************************* 

7:09 AM Charlotte's Diner 

Mulder and Scully ate their breakfasts with an unsurprising hunger, considering that had not eaten anything yesterday. When 7 AM passed without any sign of Skinner, Mulder began to grow edgy. "They've gotten to him somehow Scully. We should get out of here." Mulder said insistently, folding his arms on the table and resting his forehead on them. "Mulder, a little paranoia is okay in this situation, but don't go overboard here." She hissed back at him and sat back in here chair. "What will we tell him when he does arrive?" She asked. Mulder looked up at her steadily. "The truth." He answered flatly. They looked at each other for a long moment before Mulder let his head fall back onto his hands. 

************************** 

7:13 AM Charlotte's Diner 

Skinner strode into the darkened interior of Charlotte's Diner, in the small - almost non-existantly small - town of Craiger, Maryland, just off Route 320A. Mulder and Scully were sat at a small table with a clean but tatty green-checked tablecloth. The remains of their breakfast lay before them. They looked beat. Mulder glanced up sharply as Skinner walked in. Scully just swallowed and sighed. Skinner sat down in the vacant chair across from them. "This place isn't even on the map, how'd you get here?" Skinner asked as he sat down. "You'd be surprised what's not on the map in this country and what our government will do to keep it that way." Mulder replied bitterly, leaning towards him. "How's that?" Skinner sat back in the chair, betraying a certain amount of scepticism. "Last night we were chased by some kind of hit squad, driving what looked an awful lot like CIA fleet sedans." Mulder measured the words carefully, and gave them added emphasis. "Well I may be able to negotiate a deal that would guarantee your safety." Skinner said, leaning in towards them. "What kind of deal?" Scully leant into the conversation. "I'll turn over the digital tape in return for you reinstatement." "No sir, I need that tape. I need those files." Mulder cut in firmly. "I'm talking about a way to save your lives." Skinner told him insistently. "And I'm talking about an elaborate conspiracy against the American public. Do you know what we found last night?" "What?" "An extremely elaborate filing system of medical records." Scully informed him calmly. "Locked inside a mountain vault." Mulder added for emphasis. "For the purpose of?" "I don't know, but the answer's gotta be on that tape, in those files." "Is that answer worth your lives?" "It's obviously worth killing us for." "In your wildest dreams, what can you possibly hope to find Agent Mulder?" "Why they killed my father, and what happened to my sister, and what they did to Agent Scully." 

As he spoke the words, he looked over at Scully. She was not astonished by the depth of his feeling - she'd found that out last night - she was astonished by her own. Now that he linked her name with his search for Samantha she saw how much she had become tied into his obsession, and she wasn't altogether sure that she liked it. She saw now that Mulder seemed to like the idea of being fugitives. He liked the idea of the two of them fighting against the 'forces of evil'. Despite his occasional jaunts off on his own, he now referred to them in plural, rather than himself in the singular as he had in the past. Scully was unsure, the only thing that she knew without a doubt was that she had to see her sister. "I think we should let him make the deal Mulder." The eyes which snapped to hers betrayed shock. He'd expected her to go along with him, but she couldn't. She'd wanted a way out - a chance - and this was it. "Look, those answers mean nothing if we're gonna be hunted down like animals. We are operating so far outside of the law, right now we given up on the very notion of justice. We've turned ourselves into outsiders. We've lost our access, and our protection." "What makes you think that is any such thing as justice Scully?" Mulder told her bitterly, the eyes which had been soft this morning were now full of resentment. "Then what are good those answers to anybody but you Mulder?" She replied weakly. Mulder made a choked sound. "What we found last night . . .?" He stuttered. "Look." She began patiently, gaining confidence that she was doing the right thing. "I want exactly what you want, but I have to see my sister." 

The look they shared boiled with bitterness and determination. Their eyes held each others with an intensity that stunned them both, as well as the observing Skinner. Please understand, Scully's eyes begged. I thought you were standing by me, Mulder's answered resentfully. Neither really won the battle, but Scully couldn't take the pain she saw in her partners eyes and was forced to look away first. 

Mulder did understand, but he didn't like it. Still, he could understand her reasoning and how could he really hate her for wanting to be with her family? He didn't want to hurt her, but giving her this meant taking away the very things that he'd searched for. He sighed inwardly and turned to Skinner. "I suppose you already tried to make a back-up of the tape." He asked bluntly. "Whoever downloaded those files put some kind of copy-protector on them. I couldn't get a hard- copy to print either." Skinner replied with a shrug. "What makes you think they'll even honour this deal?" He couldn't give up like this. "Because if they don't, I'll go States evidence and testify." Their eyes locked and Mulder saw a steely determination in the older man's eyes. "Then they'll have to kill me too." Mulder regarded him steadily for a moment. He couldn't chose and - he acknowledged - it wasn't really his choice to make. With a resigned expression, he returned his gaze to Scully. "It's up to you Scully." He told her flatly. Their eyes held for a moment. I didn't want it to be this way, Scully's eyes insisted. But that's how it is, came the resigned reply from his. Every shift of his body betrayed resignation as he stood up and walked to the door. Light spilled in as the door went wide and he was silhouetted against it as he stepped out into the early morning sunshine. His departure was followed by the soft tinkling of the bell above the door and, somewhere in the distance, a dog barked. 

"Will he be okay?" Skinner asked a moment later. "I don't think that either of us will be okay ever again." Scully replied flatly as she met his eyes. "What's it to be then? Do I make the deal?" "Yes." Scully's voice broke slightly as she said the single word. Why did it feel as if she was betraying Mulder, just by saying the word? She'd said that she would support him, but if there was even a chance for things to return to the way that they had been? Surely that was better than the way things were now? 

********************* 

Mulder rested back against the post and closed his eyes against the bright, clear light of the rising sun. However much he tried not think of it as such, Scully's attitude still felt like a betrayal. He had thought that, at last, they wanted the same things, but . . He stopped himself. He understood and accepted her reasons, she had to see her sister. Hadn't most of his life been spent trying to find *his* sister. Was it really so surprising that Scully should be so intent on her sister now? But still - the tape ! ! 

He heard the door to the diner open and stood up a little straighter. He opened his eyes slowly. He didn't look round, but he sensed her as she walked to stand by his shoulder. He expected her to touch him, to try and reach him, but she didn't. "I told Skinner to make the deal, but not to hand over the tape until you agreed to it." "I'm sorry about your sister Scully." He replied turning to face her. "I just need to know that she's gonna be okay." Mulder nodded his acceptance. 

The engine of Skinner's car roared to life and Scully turned away from him. He watched as she walked to the back door and got in, before finally moving to get into the passenger seat. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX "Why is this so hard to believe?" Fox Mulder - Terma 

DON'T FORGET THE DISCLAIMER! It is out of respect that I put this disclaimer stating that The X Files are the property of Chris Carter. I find it no hardship to do so. I would hope that other writers would grant me the same respect if an idea of mine grew to the same proportions as The X Files. This disclaimer cannot prevent litigation against me, which is okay because that's not why I put it here. Respect must go where it's due. I hope that anyone who reads this understands it's meaning but, whether you do or don't, please feel free to write to me about it. This is not a justification for some of the actions committed by people on Chris Carter's behalf in the suppression of free speech. 

Feedback positively begged for. ****** Erykah@hamadryad.com 


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